Tuesday 01/21/14

Grassley Discusses RFS and Actively Engaged Provision

Sen. Charles Grassley said Tuesday in a call with reporters that supporters of the RFS are still trying to marshal opposition to the EPA proposed reduction to the Renewable Fuels Standard. He cited Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and the push to hold a daylong hearing Thursday in Des Moines despite no representation from the EPA.[Read Full Blog Post]

RFS is great if you like more people dependent on food stamps due to higher food costs and higher propane heating costs. See http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2014/0121/Propane-shortage-Winter-storm-prompts-energy-emergency-in-Midwest and see http://www.nationalchickencouncil.org/how-the-ethanol-program-is-driving-up-food-prices/
RFS has been rewarding the con men as well. See http://www.governorsbiofuelscoalition.org/?p=7165

Posted by W Kuster at
6:35PM CST 01/21/14

Wes; You missed the point.The worlds biggest monopoly has your brain addled The RFS is your only hope to stop the oil monopoly from taking more food off of the of the consumers table by having to pay exorbitant prices at the pump just to get to work. Resent trip from NE.to Green Bay Wis. the best milage was a Cenex station in Windom Minn. I purchased E-30 and got 36.5 MPG.From Windom Minn. to Wausa Wis. You need some real experiance in stead of Chicken Council Lies. If the corporate chicken needs below cost of production prices to surive 'they will get no sympathy from american corn growers.

Posted by melvin meister at
8:47PM CST 01/21/14

And if corn stays below cost of production, the American Corn Growers will be whining to Uncle Sam, for price supports or some other government handout.

Posted by GWL 61 at
9:12PM CST 01/21/14

Which brings the table back to the importance of crop insurance, GWL.
The way it works, is: if one does not pay the premium, one is out of luck! Supposed to eliminate the whining in order to keep the food supply flowing.
I wonder if the Gov. of N.J. paid a premium to FEMA for the alledged $25 million, whined out of the Obamma Administration for his promotion attempt toward the White House.

Posted by Bonnie Dukowitz at
5:48AM CST 01/22/14

As far as the actively engaged rule, I've said it before and I'll say it again. A farmer is a farmer when 100% of income is from Ag. Otherwise it is a tax writeoff.

Posted by Raymond Simpkins at
7:08AM CST 01/22/14

Here is a novel idea, If corn is below the cost of production don't grow it.Do you think GM floods the market with cars then keeps on building more just for the hell of it. We don't need insurance we need to make the market hungry.

Posted by Raymond Simpkins at
7:19AM CST 01/22/14

Truth alert. 1) Ethanol has about 66% of the energy content per gallon of gasoline. No way mileage can be higher, must have not filled up all the way. 2) Crop insurance is heavily subsidized by the government, would producers buy it if the subsidies were taken away? 3) If the same logic corn growers are using would apply to GM, the government would force everyone to buy one of their cars. 4) When corn was above $7.00 the ethanol crowd insisted the RFS had nothing to do with high prices. Now that corn is lower they insist they will all go out of business if the RFS is not increased above last year's level to keep prices up. I happen to believe ethanol has a place in a free market but am tired of the BS coming from the mouths of the RFS crowd. Let them compete for business like every cattle, pork, poultry and sheep producer.

Posted by David Kessler at
8:45AM CST 01/22/14

Back in 1985 when "actively engaged" first appeared in law, USDA issued regulations defining it. As I remember it, Congress promptly overrode our definition, either by a provision in the appropriations bill or by a 1986 law "correcting" the 1985 act. Because FSA has to fear the appropriators, I suspect Sen. Grassley is correct.

Posted by William Harshaw at
10:10AM CST 01/22/14

Mr. Kessler, be a little more knowledgable about ethanol, yes it has 67% of the energy of gasoline, but that is not the whole story, ethanol has a blue flame (hotter and cleaner), gasoline has an orange flame, ethanol has an octane rating of 105 to 115 ( more power), gasoline 87 to 93, ethanol likes high compression engine situations, gasoline prefers low compression ( because of pinging risk), ethanol likes turbo charging
Most cars are optimized for gasoline not ethanol.
Mr. Kessler , go to your local drag strip and watch the gasoline cars and the ethanol cars, the ethanol cars are SO MUCH FASTER than the gasoline cars they are NOT allowed to race against each other, because it is considered an unfair advantage.
Also, Saab had a car that got better mileage on E85 (85% ethanol) than it got on gasoline, so ethanol is NOT an inferior fuel, it is just not used to its full potential.

Posted by paul coco at
8:09AM CST 01/23/14

I am an economist not an engineer, so I won't argue power vs. efficiency except to say the desired fuel characteristics are much different on a drag strip vs. a passenger vehicle much as the difference between a passenger vehicle using gas or ethanol vs a high torque application like trucks, locomotives or tractors where diesel is more appropriate. As an economist however, I ask you though, if ethanol is so great, why do you need an ongoing government mandate to force people to use it? I feel that without the mandate refiners would continue to use ethanol as an octane booster because it is more cost effective than chemical alternatives, but in a free market the level of use would economically balance against the demand for feed from corn. I believe the RFS was appropriate for getting the industry going but at some point it is time for the industry to survive on it's own rather than relying on ever increasing mandates from government.

Posted by David Kessler at
9:11AM CST 01/23/14

Very well written, David.
We were blending up 20% soy in Summer untill the supplier was forced to do the blending. It is now impracticle to purchase bio in smaller quantities therefore limiting us to 5% in summer and forcing 5% winter use in #2 diesel. Fuel filters are not cheap.

Posted by Bonnie Dukowitz at
5:24AM CST 01/24/14

19,000 miles on my electric Leaf, all electricity home made with solar, only maintenance in past 2 years has been to inflate the tires, keep your oil filters and CO2 producing engines guys, I prefer zero emissions and zero oil!

Posted by Jay Mcginnis at
7:40AM CST 01/24/14

The reason for the mandate is that the oil companies OWN the ENTIRE supply chain, if you want to sell to consumers you HAVE to go thru them, do you think they are willingly going to give ANY fuel access to THEIR supply chain (gas stations, supply tankers, etc.) without a MANDATE???

Posted by paul coco at
7:43AM CST 01/24/14

Jay Still waiting for you to come out and spend a winter out here in Montana driving your Leaf. Come on, city and state.

Posted by CRAIG MOORE at
9:19AM CST 01/24/14

What is the width of your no till drill, Jay?

Posted by Bonnie Dukowitz at
4:54PM CST 01/24/14

Bonnie, did you hear me say that I have an electric tractor, actually I do have an electric riding mower and they make LOTS of sense for the environment and noise levels. Fact is that there is an alternative fuel, called solar and it can be stored to run autos! So why do you resist? You like the filth of fossil fuels? Maybe ethanol and biodiesel can be used in tractors since they are right at the source but electricity can be run everywhere there are autos and YES they need more improvement but did the gasoline engine look like todays engines in 1910? Electrcicty runs trains, it can run our autos as well. Time to make some changes, oil is running out at 90 million barrels a day.

Tue Mar 3, 2015 02:09 PM CSTIowa businessman Bruce Rastetter put together the Iowa Agriculture Summit for Saturday with a lineup of confirmed speakers oriented heavily around Republican presidential candidates. The ag summit is expected to draw 900 Iowans as well as national media to cover the candidates and event.

Thu Feb 26, 2015 09:05 AM CSTFarm states are looking at a variety of options to generate revenue. Here are a couple of recent examples as Iowa and Kansas seek to address infrastructure or budget holes.

Wed Feb 25, 2015 08:58 AM CSTFormer Rep. Tom Latham, a Republican from Iowa, told a room of journalists, bloggers and public-relations staff late Tuesday afternoon that it would be a bad idea to reopen any aspect of the farm bill.

Mon Feb 23, 2015 02:32 PM CSTOmaha agricultural attorney David Domina gave his own perspective on the impacts of consolidation on farming in Nebraska during a speech Friday at the state's flagship university in Lincoln.

Fri Feb 20, 2015 10:05 PM CSTIn a statement emailed out just after 7 p.m. Pacific (9 p.m. Central) on Friday, the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union announced they had reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year contract covering workers at all 29 West Coast ports.

Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:09 AM CSTSen. Jeff Flake released a parody of a BBQ sign on Wednesday as a way to keep the spotlight on a bill he helped introduce earlier this month. Flake and a few of his colleagues have embraced the proposal by President Barack Obama's FY 2016 budget to get rid of the premium subsidy for the Harvest Price Option on crop insurance.

Thu Feb 12, 2015 01:07 PM CSTRep. Mike Pompeo, a Republican from Kansas, lashed out Thursday at three Democrats in Congress for introducing a bill that would require labeling foods that have ingredients from biotech crops. The congressmen said lawmakers should "stop listening to celebrity chefs and well-heeled 'activists,' and start really caring about those less fortunate."

Tue Feb 10, 2015 07:12 AM CSTIt shouldn't surprise anyone that the crop-insurance industry came out of its annual convention over the weekend committed to fending off potential federal budget cuts. Crop insurers see themselves as under fire because of proposals in both Congress and the Obama administration that would cut spending on crop insurance anywhere from $220 million to $1.6 billion a year.

Mon Feb 9, 2015 05:07 PM CSTSupporters of country-of-origin labeling declared victory Monday that they had beaten back a federal lawsuit filed by the nation's meatpackers and other critics of the legislation. A bigger question was just how relevant the litigation is in the grand scheme of things because the World Trade Organization is going to tell everyone what is going to happen with COOL.

Tue Feb 3, 2015 08:19 PM CSTA day after the chairmen of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees scoffed at President Barack Obama's proposal to cut crop insurance, a pair of senators introduced a bill that would translate into significant cuts to crop insurance for the nation's largest farmers.

Tue Feb 3, 2015 03:19 PM CSTAhead of a scheduled joint hearing Wednesday of the Senate Environment and Public Works and House Transportation and Infrastructure committees on the waters of the U.S. rule to be finalized this spring, one congressman is pressing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to fully respond to a request for information about the agency's efforts to map potential waters of the U.S. that could become jurisdictional with the new rule.

Mon Feb 2, 2015 09:29 AM CSTAgriculture faces various studies and mixed signals when it comes to climate change. Farmers need to adapt yet many argue that agriculture also does more harm than good trying to mitigating greenhouse gases through biofuels.

Wed Jan 28, 2015 09:32 AM CSTVal Dolcini, head of the Farm Service Agency, is making the rounds to talk to producers about farm-program enrollment. I spoke to him briefly this week about the enrollment numbers and how FSA is getting the message out about the programs.

Mon Jan 26, 2015 09:56 AM CSTI was somewhat caught off-guard Friday when a few members of Practical Farmers of Iowa asked that I stick around their conference for a one-woman play performance. I was already facing an evening drive home and dinner from a drive-thru.

Sun Jan 18, 2015 09:47 AM CSTLate Saturday evening, the White House issued a fact sheet on a new tax proposal President Barack Obama will roll out Tuesday night at his State of the Union speech. The plan effectively increases taxes on wealthier people while offering some tax breaks for middle-class wage-earners.